The Metropolis of Dawson Creek is trying to fast-track an estimated $100-million water pipeline as an unprecedented, years-long drought threatens the town’s solely supply of consuming water.
The Kiskatinaw River, which supplies water for 15,000 individuals in northeastern B.C., has dropped to file lows and should quickly fall beneath the town’s every day demand.
Mayor Darcy Dober says the town is asking the province to assist discover a new water provide and to exempt a pipeline connection from a full environmental evaluation. That will minimize a five-year approval course of down to 2, however even then, Dober says the town cannot afford to attend if circumstances proceed to deteriorate.
“That is the primary precedence for our neighborhood’s future,” Dober mentioned. “That is about 50 years, 100 years down the highway.”
Dawson Creek and the Kiskatinaw watershed are at present labeled underneath Stage 3 drought circumstances.
Common seven-day streamflows hit their lowest recorded ranges on the finish of July, and the Ministry of Water, Land and Useful resource Stewardship says that regardless of a slight rise from latest rain, they’re “nonetheless [at] file lows for this time of yr.”
Situations are no higher in Bearhole Lake, a protected space within the japanese foothills of the Rockies that’s the headwaters of the Kiskatinaw. Each rely solely on seasonal rain and snow.
“We get two or three days of rain and the following day, there’s not even puddles round,” mentioned Dober. “The bottom is absorbing it faster than it comes.”
Because the driest summer time months method, the B.C. authorities has unveiled a brand new system to trace and report drought circumstances within the province. This system will present how a lot water a neighborhood has saved to be used and the way nicely rivers and creeks are flowing.
Province engaged on emergency plans
In a written assertion, B.C.’s Environmental Evaluation Workplace (EAO) confirmed it is guiding the town by way of the exemption evaluate course of, however that regulatory purposes have but to be formally filed.
As soon as submitted, the EAO says a 90-day engagement course of with governments, First Nations and the general public will start. From there, the town might want to file a detailed undertaking description, which the EAO says it’ll evaluate earlier than making a suggestion to the setting minister.
“The EAO appreciates the urgency of the scenario, and is working intently with [the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship] to make sure a well timed and clear evaluate,” a spokesperson mentioned.
The spokesperson mentioned the EAO can also be working with the Ministry of Emergency Administration and Local weather Readiness to “put together for attainable emergency response measures ought to drought circumstances persist into the autumn.”
“These efforts intention to help the Metropolis’s water wants whereas preserving environmental flows within the Kiskatinaw River.”
Planning for a drier future
Dawson Creek officers say the cumulative toll of the latest drought within the area dates again to the 2021 warmth dome.
Kevin Henderson is the town’s chief administrative officer and has been coping with water points all through most of his practically 30-year profession with the town.
Whereas earlier councils made sensible investments in reservoirs and storage weirs to construct capability within the water system, he says at this time’s circumstances are pushing the boundaries of that infrastructure.
“We by no means anticipated a four-year drought. We at all times thought we would have liked to get by way of a one-year drought, and so we invested in that route,” Henderson mentioned. “The system has been extraordinarily resilient, however we consider we’re at a little bit of a tipping level now.”
Stage 2 water restrictions went into impact July 25, limiting residential garden watering and industrial water use, together with bulk withdrawals for hydraulic fracturing. Town’s storage reservoirs maintain about 200 days of water. However drawing them down is a final resort, and will result in tighter restrictions on residents and companies.
“We have now to maneuver ahead with some plans,” mentioned Henderson. “All of the research which were finished over time actually point out that this, what we’re seeing, is prone to be extra widespread sooner or later, and that our surroundings is changing into extra arid.”
Pipeline undertaking seen as finest resolution
Earlier research have dominated out groundwater aquifers within the space as unsuitable for consuming water. Town sees a pipeline to the Peace River, about 55 kilometres away, as the very best long-term resolution.
It isn’t a brand new concept. A 2013 survey discovered sturdy help, with 71 per cent of residents backing a connection to both the Peace or Murray River. Council on the time selected a unique path, Henderson mentioned, like investing in a brand new reservoir, maximizing use of the prevailing water remedy system, and leaving the pipeline as a future possibility.
Potential pipeline routes are nonetheless into account, however the Peace River is rising as essentially the most viable and sustainable supply, Henderson mentioned.
“Due to the altering local weather, though the Murray or the Pine [rivers] is likely to be an improve from the Kiskatinaw, they nonetheless see low flows within the falls as a consequence of these extended droughts,” he mentioned. “So we felt if we will do it, we should always have a look at the most important river within the area, which is the Peace, and begin to discover that.”
Early estimates recommend a water pipeline may exceed $100 million, a price Dober acknowledges is past the town’s tax base.
Dawson Creek will want monetary help from senior ranges of presidency, in addition to partnerships with business and First Nations, to make it occur, he mentioned.
“We’re not going to cease till we get a safe water supply for our neighborhood, and discover a means to do this in essentially the most cost-effective means for our taxpayers.”
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